[blueinplaid]

It happened. I left the ER showered, braless, but in a fresh pair of scrubs thanks to an overdose patient who threw a cup of charcoal directly on me. A seemingly, "cooperative" patient who appeared to be willing to drink her charcoal rather than getting the "tube". She took the entire cup, held it like she was going to drink it, than proceeded to splash the whole cup in my face and throw the cup across the room. I was covered from the top of my head to the top of my scrub with black charcoal. I was furious. I did manage to walk out of the room without a word, taking my glasses off so I could see.......charcoal was everywhere....great to absorb drugs, not so fashionable as an ensemble.

I make jokes, but I am furious. I feel .....disrespected and her without repercussions. She was restrained, but the physician in the end decided to not give her the charcoal so she didn't have to have an ngt. I am furious about that.....She laid on the bed, not caring about the restraints even, which got to me. At least she could have been was upset or coming down or something!

Mind you, I have been cursed at spit on (attempted), and all sorts of things, but for some reason this particular incident is poking at my last nerve, most likely bc she knew what she was doing., and while she was under the influence of something, she was calm otherwise and following commands. Meanwhile, I had a heck of a time getting the stuff off me, my glasses, and likely lost my favorite pair of scrubs bc of it.
It was a direct attack on my person. Grrrr.

I do pride myself on being calm, respectful and kind, but omg. I wanted to punch that girl in the face lol.

breathing......breathing.......

[EricJRN]

No doubt I would be perturbed at getting splashed with charcoal that didn't even need to be broken out in the first place, but I don't know about being furious that the patient didn't get an NGT. Doesn't sound like she needed it, and you would have been performing an invasive procedure just to exact revenge on the patient.

I know you don't need a lecture that an NGT tube is a medical intervention and not a form of punishment, so I hope I don't come off that way. I'm just thinking that when we combine rage and revenge with nursing care, no one wins.

[snowfreeze]

Venting in here is always better than actually doing vengeful invasive procedures. In here we can laugh about it, offer encouragement and be supportive.
Blueinplaid I can understand your feelings.
My worse encounter was a drunk who tossed his full urinal on me and laid there laughing about it. The docs ordered a foley but I had someone else insert it as I was still too angry at him at the time and I had to care for him for the rest of the shift. If he had been seizing or had really bad parkinsons or even demented I would not have been angry, it seems the ones who know better get to me the most. Accidents happen, intentional meanness is hard for me to handle.

[traumaRUs]

I'm so sorry for this - believe me I'm a pretty calm person too but intentionally assaulting you is another story. Hopefully you have a night or two off before you have to head back in there to the ER.

Good luck - this job is hard.

[oramar]

I mean spiteful person might think to themselves that what ever life situations conspired to put that person in that bed at that place and time were well deserved. We nurses are not mean and spiteful are we.

[blueinplaid]

I find it interesting that the title of the post went past. Venting. I am glad to see that we support each other in here and things that are aired are taken as that.

[facetiousgoddess]

Ahh I feel your pain......my internal dialog would have gone something like this......."WHAT!!!!!! If she doesn't even need the (insert expletive of your choice here) charcoal....Why am I wandering around looking like the roger corman version of creature from the black lagoon???"

very frustrating.......

Tres

[Altra]

Hugs, blueinplaid. Hope your next day at work is better.

[ERRNTraveler]

PRESS CHARGES!!!- throwing something at you is assault. Assault of a healthcare worker is a felony in most states...... People need to learn that it is NOT acceptable to treat healthcare workers this way......

[bigsyis]

Man, that is the pits. I think you have done exactly the right things. You got yourself out of the situation without saying or doing anything retaliatory, and when you stepped out of the room you didn't have to say a word to anyone, I'll bet. After all, that charcoal is kind of hard to miss. I've had it blown all over me (including my face) twice from little children who didn't like the way it tasted, but that was just a mouthful, not a whole cup!
You also vented here instead of at the pt. I think that is entirely appropriate, and I understand the desire for the NG tube (Ewald tube down the esophagus is what we used because it took forever to get charcoal slurries down a regular NG tube and it would often clog up). Expressing and venting our thoughts, to me, shouldn't be interpreted as the thought that a nurse is planning to inflict retaliatory pain or procedures on someone. It seems very human to me to temporarily want to get a bit of revenge. Because we are professionals it can't be done at work, so we learn to deal with it differently. Expressing it in thought seems to me a good way to get rid of bitter feelings.

Let me tell you about the most horrible thing I ever saw happen, similar to what happened to you. I was assigned the main Trauma room at our ER, which also got things like MIs and overdoses that were really bad, if we had no other beds. I had a pt having an MI that I and another RN were getting IVs on-one on one side of the stretcher, one on the other. The other nurse was sitting on a stool at the bedside and without warning the pt sat bolt upright and threw up (copiously) all over her face, hair, torso, and lap. She was talking so you can guess where some of the emesis went. She took off her glasses and that was the only place that wasn't absolutely covered! I felt so bad for her, AND the pt, who never meant for it to happen that way.